This is a competitive renewal to continue the ACR Basic Research Conference for the years 2005-2008. The Basic Research Conference, which is organized under the direction of the ACR Committee on Research COR), consists of a one and one-half day scientific conference focusing on the basic science aspects of a major topic relevant to rheumatic diseases. It immediately precedes the ACR annual meeting. The purpose of the Basic Research Conference is to bring increasing numbers of leading basic scientists into contact with the physicians, scientists, and arthritis health professional members of the ACR, to impart current knowledge to the members of the ACR, to facilitate transfer of scientific knowledge to patient care, and to increase the numbers of basic investigators attending the annual meeting. As outlined in the body of this proposal, we believe those goals are being achieved with the format of this conference. Each year the ACR annual meeting is located in a large city in the USA with adequate convention center capacity and hotel space to accommodate attendees of both the Basic Research Conference and the much larger affiliated meeting of ACR members. In 2005, the Basic Research Conference is scheduled for November 11-12 in San Diego, CA. The topic is "Dendritic Cells", and the meeting will be co-chaired by Drs. Anne Davidson, Yong Jun-Liu, and Virginia Pascual. Topics have also been selected for the following several years, including Innate Immunity, Mechanisms of Tissue Injury, Visualizing Disease Processes, and Genomics. Each year the committee planning the program will consist of a selected leader in a basic scientific discipline as chair, a co-chair appointed by him/her, a representative of the ACR COR, and the COR chair. The PI of this proposal, Dr. Jane E. Salmon, is the current COR Chair. The purpose of this is to facilitate the yearly organization of the conference under the auspices of the standing committee charged with this purpose by the ACR Board of Directors.